News item

Archive of: October, 2013

1st October sees the implementation of NHS England’s national service specifications for specialised services with providers in England. Providers now need to comply with national standards for specialised services, eliminating any significant variation in services across the country. While fairly widespread, time-limited ‘derogation’ from these national standards is expected in the first year of operation, the objective of uniform service provision for all patients in England is a step closer to being achieved.

The Alliance has been supportive of the move to national commissioning of specialised services as a means of levelling-up quality across the country and eliminating unwarranted variation in service standards or access to treatment. Confirmation in recently published specialised commissioning intentions for 2014/15 and 2015/16 that NHS England intends to use specifications for the purpose of service improvement is therefore welcome.